Building a lap steel is easy

Making a lap steel guitar is a good way of starting to get into
guitarbuilding. There are several factors that make building a lap
steel easy. In fact, the most difficult part will be learning to
play the instrument, but that's a different story.

Why building a lap steel is easy

No round-shaping of the neck required
A lap steel neck can be left square because the player
doesn't have to grab around it to play the instrument.

No fretboard required
Although most lap steel guitars have an extra fretboard made of
wood or metal the instrument can be played just as well without
one. To help the player with orientation you can paint the fret
markers directly onto the plank.

No fretboard radius required
If you make a fretboard, you can leave it flat. A fretboard radius
is a matter of comfort on a normal guitar but wouldn't make
sense on a lap steel.

No truss rod needed
The neck of a lap steel guitar doesn't have to be
comfortable. Since the hands don't have to grab around it,
the neck can be left quite thick and square. Such a thick neck will
not bend under string load, so there's no need for a truss
rod to correct any neck bow.

No frets required
There are no frets needed to define an exact vibrating length for
the strings. Lap steel guitars owe their special sound to the fact
that the slide can be placed anywhere between the nut and the end
of the fretboard. The strings of a lap steel guitar run quite high
above the fretboard and never touch it.

No fret leveling and crowning required
To help the player with orientation it is helpful to have fret
markers on the fretboard or neck. Often the frets are just strips
of wood that are inlaid flush with the fretboard. Although not
necessary, a lot of lap steel guitars still have frets, but merely
for reasons of appearance. Since the action is high, the strings
won't touch the fretboard and no leveling and crowning of
frets is required.

No setting of the action necessary
The strings usually run 13/32" (10mm) above the fretboard.
There is no need for lengthy nut and saddle filing to achieve low
string action. Fret buzzes are unknown to lap steel players.

No setting of the intonation
Because the strings are not pressed down on the fretboard when the
guitar is played, there is no need for "setting the
intonation". On conventional guitars, pressing down the
strings results in a slight increase in pitch; to correct this
effect, the scale length is increased by setting the string rests
(saddles) on the bridge further back, a procedure commonly called
"setting the intonation". On lap steel guitars all the
saddles are placed at scale-length distance from the front of the
nut.

Regardless of these numerous advantages, a lot of steps
are the same as in building a conventional guitar.